Like so many kerfuffles involving former President Donald Trump, it started with a social media post. On a recent Fox News broadcast, Trump’s last of four White House Press Secretaries, Kayleigh McEnany, said she saw momentum in a poll sliding toward Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, even as she noted that Trump had a huge lead.
Politico’s Meridith McGraw posted Trump’s Truth Social response:
https://twitter.com/meridithmcgraw/status/1663707542697000960?s=20
Kayleigh 'Milktoast' McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on Fox News. I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up,' the former president wrote, using his nickname for Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis while spelling the term 'milquetoast.'
'While 25 is great, it's not 34. She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!'
Having served as a White House Correspondent during all of Trump’s four years in the Oval Office, I am well aware that 45th president’s bad habit of gratuitously dressing down former or current aides on social media. Trump, for example, called his former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “dumb as rock,” branded then Vice President Mike Pence a “coward” for certifying the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, and tweeted that his former Chief of Staff John Kelly “came in with a bang, out with a whimper.” He treats everyone as if he’ll never need their support some day.
CNN pundit S.E. Cupp believes this Kayleigh brouhaha is proof that “Trump can go too far in shooting inside the tent.” (You can watch below.)
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+kayleigh+said+about+trump&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS952US953&oq=what+kayleigh+said+about+trump&aqs=chrome..69i57.5808j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e0f23b71,vid:GF--Nxvk0mI
McEnany is smart — she went to Georgetown, Oxford and Harvard Law. She also is — and this is rare for the hard-knuckle realm of partisan politics — very nice. I shouldn’t have to stipulate this, but given both sides’ love of taking umbrage — nice is good in politics.
But also, people don’t like it when a man dumps on a former aide who took a lot of verbal bullets for him because she made a factual comment. It’s “unnecessary roughness” imposed on a one-time aide who wasn’t bashing Trump.
I’ve long believed that Trump can’t win the 2024 primary because, while the former president knows how to gin up the base — by sparking silly controversies like this — at some point, a sizable chunk of Republican voters realize they’ve had enough of the trash talk and the drama.
Shameless self-promotion: I delved into this subject in the third episode of my podcast, “Covering Trump: War Stories from the White House press corps.”
Debra J. Saunders is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership.
Agree? Disagree? Does Trump think he does not have enough enemies?
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Trump is known for his nicknames and I also felt this was totally inappropriate for one of the most accomplished WH Press Secretary. It would be nice if Trump would mention Kayleigh in his next speech and thank her for the outstanding work she did under difficult conditions.
This is typical Trump and I do not take him seriously at all. I wish he had decided not to run again and let his record stand for itself and watch Biden ruin everything (destroying this country as we watch). I would like to see who else is out there but if all they are doing is bashing Trump and not offering THEIR view of how to lead the country, I am not interested.